Challenge to the rising star of Britain's fashion industry: "create with Fairtrade cotton"
This Fairtrade Fortnight (22 February – 7 March 2010), future stars of Britain’s fashion industry studying at the UK’s top university and college design departments, have signed up to learn how to design stylish and innovative garments using Fairtrade cotton.
The initiative forms part of a Fairtrade Foundation Fashion Road Show and a Fairtrade cotton farmer from India will tour fashion colleges together with experts on Fairtrade. The Fairtrade fashion project is being spearheaded by one of the icons of British youth culture James Redmond.
The former model turned actor has starred in Hollyoaks, Mile High and Casualty. He’s currently touring the country on a top secret comedy project: so he should be good for some fun when he visits the universities and colleges taking part in the Fairtrade Fashion Road Show. His tour will take him to Huddersfield, Manchester, Northumbria and Nottingham. He will also model at the Fairwear Fashion Show at Bristol Cathedral on 25 February 2010
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation says: ‘The Fairtrade Fashion Road Show builds on the success of the Fairtrade Foundation’s drive to engage universities and colleges in the campaign. There are currently more than 110 further and higher education institutions, with more than a million and a half students, which have achieved Fairtrade status, and hundreds more are working towards the same goals.
‘There is so much scope for Fairtrade cotton. It’s a raw material used in so many beautiful designs and is a great way for us to feel good about the way we look. Designers today are looking for new ways to create cutting edge fashion, and putting people at the heart of each design is definitely the way forward.’
Fairtrade cotton is in its fifth year. It began with ten small pioneer companies selling clothing using cotton grown by farmers from nine countries in the developing world. Shortly after the launch, Marks & Spencer became the first high street retailer to stock Fairtrade cotton clothes and was quickly followed by several other high street names. Over the last five years, sales of Fairtrade cotton have taken off, at the last count 20 million units of Fairtrade cotton were sold by 80 licensees through 18 retailers from Top Man to Warehouse, John Lewis and Tesco to People Tree and Gossypium.
As many as 100 million rural households around the world are involved in cotton production. Most are small-scale cotton farmers especially vulnerable to exploitation and injustice from international trade rules.
Fairtrade offers a positive alternative to thousands of cotton farmers in India and in countries as widespread as Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt and Mali in West Africa, Peru and Egypt. Fairtrade certification brings farmers the guarantee of a fair and stable price. They also get an extra payment – the Fairtrade Premium – which they can spend on community development projects such as schools, health clinics and clean water.
The benefits from sales of Fairtrade certified cotton have allowed farmers in India to develop basic health insurance schemes for themselves and health awareness programmes for their children. In Mali, farmers have been able to fund the building of storage units for cotton and grain, enabling them to store food all year round and better control the sales of their cotton over the seasons, bringing them a more consistent income.
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For more information please contact Martine Julseth, Media & PR Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, on 0207 440 7695 or Eileen Maybin, Head of Media, on 0207 440 7686.
Eileen Maybin
Head of Media Relations
020 7440 7686/07770 957 451
eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk
Martine Julseth
Media and PR Manager
020 7440 7695/07825 827 791
martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk
Faith Mall
Media and PR Manager
020 7440 8597/07766 504 947
faith.mall@fairtrade.org.uk
Neil Martin
Assistant Press Officer
020 7440 7620
neil.martin@fairtrade.org.uk
Notes to Editors
Tour dates: University of Huddersfield - Monday 1st March, Manchester Met - Tuesday 2nd March, Northumbria University - Wednesday 3rd March, Nottingham Trent - Thursday 4th March.
Today over 4,500 retail and catering products have been licensed to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark including coffee, tea, herbal teas, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, grapes, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, apples, pears, plums, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, mandarins, lychees, coconuts, dried fruit, juices, smoothies, biscuits, cakes & snacks, honey, jams & preserves, chutney & sauces, olive oil, rice, quinoa, herbs & spices, seeds, nuts & nut oil, wines, beers, rum, confectionary, muesli, cereal bars, yoghurt, ice-cream, flowers, sports balls, sugar body scrub, plus cotton products including clothing, homeware, cloth toys and cotton wool.
The FAIRTRADE Mark is a certification mark and a registered trademark of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body which licenses the use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products which meet international Fairtrade standards. This independent consumer label appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than 7 million people - farmers, workers and their families - across 59 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
Action guides can be downloaded from www.fairtrade.org.uk
Todady there are over 450 Fairtrade Towns, 100 Fairtrade Universities & Colleges, over 5,000 Faith Groups and more than 3,000 schools registered with the Fairtrade Foundation.